Two-thirds of Cobb County voters don’t know they will be asked to vote on a 1%, 30-year transit tax in November, according to a forthcoming poll.
That was the biggest takeaway for Croy Engineering President Greg Teague, one of the leaders of a group of businesses which funded the poll.
On Nov. 5, Cobb residents will vote on approving the Mobility Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, which would collect $11 billion over three decades to overhaul the county’s public transportation system.
If approved, Cobb’s sales tax would rise from 6% to 7%.
M-SPLOST funds would be used to construct 108 miles of rapid bus routes, half a dozen new transit centers and a countywide system of on-demand “microtransit” service.
Teague is one of the leaders the Cobb Business Alliance, a 501(c)4 nonprofit formed to educate the public about the transit tax referendum.
The group is not taking a position on the M-SPLOST, Teague said.
The alliance commissioned a poll conducted last November which found 63% of Cobb voters would support a 30-year program to expand transit, the MDJ previously reported.
Poll: Majority of Cobb voters ‘likely’ to support 30-year transit tax
Asked if they are likely to support a 30-year program to expand transit and build a new rapid bus system in Cobb County, 63% of voters said they likely would, according to a new poll.
More recently, the alliance conducted another poll, in which 67% of respondents said they didn’t know the tax would be on the ballot.
“Which really stresses why we want to educate people when they’re going to the ballot, because it’s a big question,” Teague told the MDJ.
The full poll is not yet ready, but will be released in the coming weeks, he said.
Campaign ramping up
Last week, the alliance held a campaign kickoff event at Glover Park Brewery in Marietta.
The event featured remarks from Lisa Cupid, the Democrat who has spearheaded the M-SPLOST as chair of the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
Before a crowd of about 70 people, Cupid said the county must invest in transit to accommodate Cobb’s future population and job growth. The county is expected to have 915,000 residents by 2050, up from the current 766,000.
“We do need effective funding solutions that match the scale of our growth and that serve our community,” Cupid said. “That’s where this Mobility SPLOST comes in. This initiative allows us to fund infrastructure projects that are key to our future.”
State Rep. Doug Stoner, D- Smyrna, supports the tax, and said raising awareness is key to getting it passed.
“That’s the biggest thing, is reminding folks that it’s on the ballot, and it’s at the bottom of the ballot. Don’t stop halfway down,” Stoner said. “But I think with the overall general election, especially with the enthusiasm we see now and the sense of turnout, I think that potentially bodes well.”
Under state law, Cobb’s government can educate citizens about the referendum but cannot spend funds advocating for its passage.
In January, Cobb enlisted consulting firm Kimley-Horn to conduct an education campaign on the tax, to the tune of $287,000.
After months of relative quiet, that campaign appears to be ramping up. The county recently launched a website with information about the tax, cobbcounty.org/transportation/msplost, and has rolled out new flyers, postcards and yard signs.
“What we’re really trying to do is take a lot of the educational materials that the county has developed and get that in front of a bigger audience,” Teague said. “So we’re trying to push it out. We’re going to do that with digital ads, we’re going to do that with social media ads, and we’re also looking for opportunities to speak where people are already together.”
Most of the alliance’s members are in the engineering, construction and consultant business: STV, AtkinsRealis, WSP, Jacobs, C.W. Matthews, CERM, Croy, Atlas, CKL Engineers and Arcadis.
The alliance also includes Georgia Power, the Town Center Community Improvement District, and Council for Quality Growth, a trade group for Atlanta’s development industry.
The crowd at the kickoff event included a few local elected officials and many pro-transit activists.
Leroy Tre’ Hutchins, a Democrat who serves on the Cobb school board, said he’s excited about the M-SPLOST projects, and the matching federal grants the county could attract.
“I also hear it all the time from parents in the southern portion of the county — if their child graduated from high school and wants to go to ( Kennesaw State University), but they don’t have transportation to get there, they can’t drive themselves, they can’t go to KSU,” Hutchins said. “They can’t go to college.”
Opponents picket open houses
A coalition of conservative groups recently held a campaign kickoff event to mobilize opposition to the transit tax.
On the same night as the Cobb Business Alliance’s event, the county held open houses on the M-SPLOST at a handful of its libraries. Opponents of the tax demonstrated outside them.
“We’re here to give the other side of the coin,” said Tracy Stevenson of Marietta, outside the Smyrna Public Library. “… We think we got to fix the bus system we have first before we raise $11 billion.”
A few M-SPLOST opponents also attended the alliance’s event.
“It’s a lot of money that’s really not solving the problem that we have,” said Karee Grier of Powder Springs.
Grier noted low ridership on the county’s existing CobbLinc bus system, which is mostly funded by federal grants and county general fund dollars.
“Most people want to stay in their cars. They just want to have the road systems developed and improved,” Grier said.
Linda Bell of Mableton, however, argued that a faster and more extensive system would attract more riders.
“It shouldn’t just be for people who have to ride it because they don’t have other transportation. We should all be looking at riding it. … And I think if this passes and it’s much more convenient and easy, I think people would be more likely to do that,” Bell said.
Bell added that more people using transit will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and Cobb’s contribution toward climate change.
Lynn Walston of east Cobb is chair of the local Sierra Club chapter, and also mentioned environmental benefits.
“I don’t personally use transit, but I can see so many instances where it would be helpful for people who are transit-dependent, who need to get to work, who don’t drive, can’t drive, to doctor appointments,” Walston said. “... We need to make our buses more efficient, and we can.”
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